[DMs Guild] Commonplace Publishing Updates

Feisty

Dragon Dreams of the Forest Kingdom is a series of free articles inspired by the dreams of sleeping dragons that lair on Cormyr’s borders.

The inaugural article recounts the events ensnaring the Mist Dragon Orothaumyth and the Arabellan dealer of arms and armors Auntiver Dunshield.

The article introduces a handful of new magic items (Brooch of Defense, Gauntlets of Ironguard, Ring of Silent Sentinels), a magical gemstone unique to the Forgotten Realms (rogue stone), and a couple of old spells with new 5E game statistics (Gemjump and Ironguard).

Lastly, you’ll find game stats for a terrible artifact from Cormyr’s past: The Wyvern Crown of Cormyr.

This book includes 78 "Clack" entries that touch on the doings of adventuring companies, merchants, dragons and city states, the discovery of long lost dungeons, the arrivals, departures and supposed dooms of sailing ships plying the Sea of Swords, the machinations of powerful rulers and NPCs, and of course the grim fates of adventurers, all centered on Neverwinter.

11 descriptions for NPCs and adventuring companies are included, as well as an introductory adventure for 1st level characters: The Exposed Crypt. Four additional adventure maps are included for your use.

A regional map of the Sword Coast centered on Neverwinter, and a hyperlinked table of contents, are included for your convenience.

This product is updated on a monthly basis. Early purchase guarantees free access to all future monthly updates.

Feisty

Under the new, albeit experimental, publisher/promo guidelines issued by Morrus, publishers are required to check in with our promo threads. To that end, may I present a teaser for the upcoming "Dragon Dreams of the Forest Kingdom" article, to be released in January on the DMs Guild.

Fire Over The Bloodhorn: Thraxata "The Flamefiend"

The Bloodhorn thrusts up out of the earth like a bloodied sword run through flesh. The mountain's unusual red color stands out against the rival summits of the Thunder Peaks, of which it is a part. The woodland expanse of Cormanthor marches south to the Thunder Peaks, The Bloodhorn an enormous red sentinel disallowing any further advancement. When the trees grow too close to the mountain, Thraxata “The Flamefiend” climbs high up into the sky and then dives for the woods, her lungs filling with air and her belly filling with fire. Once the new growth is aflame, the dragon lands a mile out to rip and thrash and tear through the trees, creating a crescent-shaped firebreak around her mountain home. Back in her lair, the memory of the terrified screams of animals and humanoids trapped between the marauding dragon and the forest fire mingles with the incense of burned trees and flesh wafting up the mountain. A fanged smile lingers over the dragon’s face as she hunkers down to sleep in The Bloodhorn.

Feisty

Here's another work-in-progress-preview for the December "Dragon Dreams" article.

If this paragraph seems familiar to you, then you've probably been reading the newer entries in my Adventuring Companies thread.

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The One That Got Away: Ravance Buckfast

When the nigh ancient Lord Ravance Buckfast (“Old Goat” to his close friends; “Old Lord Buckfast” to most everyone else) comes down from his lonely tower to collect rents in nearby Thunderstone, he gains an audience of eager children that follow him into a chandler’s shop with rooms above, the whole of the building owned by the old noble. The children gather round Lord Buckfast, who sits next to a warm fire in the ground floor shop, and wait to hear another tall tale of his adventures in the Hullack Forest and Thunder Peaks. A favorite among the children is the story of Lord Buckfast jumping his brave steed Thunderlance from one mountaintop to the next straight across the Thunder Peaks, to confront a greedy dragon that had stolen goods belonging to the lord. Lord Buckfast embroiders his story with deeds of might and encourage, "I charged headlong into the mouth of the fire breathing dragon! Thunderlance pranced on its tongue and I smote it in the tooth, then the beast sneezed and bit off my arm."

Feisty

Work is progressing on a new adventure update for Current Clack: Neverwinter. This update expands the "Lair of the Summoner" map included in the book to a full one-shot adventure.

Look for the new one-shot to be included in the December update to the Neverwinter sourcebook.

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Here's a work-in-progress preview for the introduction to the adventure:

The wizard Anszarra was a master of conjuration. Hers were the spells that tamed elementals and bound fey spirits. She valued privacy and loyalty, and always kept her word.

Anszarra was strict with her two apprentices. Discipline was her way. Every lesson she taught was bound by it, for to be undisciplined when summoning creatures was to risk death. This way of life was reflected in her trusted friend and steward, Dralthus, who took charge of Anszarra's lair when she was away on business in Neverwinter or Waterdeep.

The forested hills west of Mount Hotenow, within the Neverwinter Wood, concealed Anszarra's lair from prying eyes and interlopers. Within the lair, she crafted magic items, researched spells, taught her two apprentices, and whisked herself away by means of Teleport spells when the time came to sell her creations to her business partners or to purchase supplies for the lair.

Anszarra sometimes took an apprentice along with her, but never her steward. Dralthus always remained behind to see to his duties within the lair, and to ensure the remaining apprentice stayed hard at work.

The life Anszarra had crafted for herself was shattered soon after she encountered a Crown of Demon Summoning. The magic item was loaned to her with a request by its owner to discern its properties and, if possible, to discover where it came from. Anszarra knew that confidence is no substitute for discipline. But the crown had its ways; it urged her to summon a fiend, for was she not a master of the art summoning?

Had the crown not distracted Anszarra, she might have realized the Shadow Demon she'd summoned with the crown's power had not departed back to the Abyss the moment she'd stopped concentrating to control it. She never saw the fiend lingering in the shadows; did not see it follow her into her private chambers; could not defend herself against its black tallons thrusting into her heart, killing her.

Compounding her errors, Anszarra had not completed her research. She died not knowing that a fiend summoned by the crown that goes on to slay a creature may remain. When Dralthus came to check on his master, the Shadow Demon slew him.

After attuning to the crown overnight, the Shadow Demon summoned a Balgura. The Balgura ate the first apprentice to awaken and come see what was causing a tumult in the laboratory. At the command of the Shadow Demon, the Balgura found the other apprentice and broke her legs. The Shadow Demon fed the Balgura Anszarra's body as a reward for good behavior.

The following morning, the hobbled apprentice was devoured by a pack of summoned Dretches. The Balgura would have eaten a Dretch or two, but for the fact that the Shadow Demon led the fiends on a hunt. The unwary prospectors overwhelmed by the fiends made for good eating.

The fiends returned with full bellies the next morning, and another captive. A second pack of Dretches was summoned. Now all the Dretches guard the lair entrance.

Feisty

I'm excited to announce that the monthly update for Current Clack: Neverwinter is available for download.

Updated content includes:

• New adventure: Lair of the Summoner (5th level).
• The 1st level adventure The Exposed Crypt has been rebalanced and revised.
• New equipment: Box of Spell Calligraphy
• New minor property: Overconfidence.
• The Battlefield Helm has been revised and improved.
• New magic item: Crown of Demon Summoning.
• New charms: Charm of Fiend Destruction and Charm of Healing.
• 4 new pages of content added. No change in price.

Those of you who've previously purchased this product can download the update for free.

Feisty

The new year is just around the corner, but the first half of the January update for Current Clack: Neverwinter is pretty much done.

As some of you may know, I like to create lists of adventuring company names and then flesh each name out a little bit. My latest entry in that thread stayed with me after I wrote it, so I decided to expand it as an entry for my Neverwinter sourcebook.

I hope you'll check out the thread entry, then read the expanded version below. As always, this is work-in-progress material.

This article tells the story of the battle between the red dragon Thraxata “The Flamefiend” and the Cormyrean nobleman Ravance Buckfast atop the Bloodhorn, in the Thunder Peaks, and gives a description of the dragon and the unusually long-lived noble one hundred and twenty years after their fateful encounter.

The article introduces a trio of new magic items (Cloak of Misfortune; Flask of One Thousand Lifetimes, The Hunting Blade), includes descriptions for four adventuring companies you might encounter in Thunderstone (the Chase, the Dragon Chasers, the Oakshields and the Whitecloaks), and presents two classic Forgotten Realms spells with new 5E game mechanics (Loft and Tellsong).

Lastly, you’ll find game stats for an object that inflicts a terrible curse, and is part construct and part magic item: The Wandering Cloak of Wyvernshape.

Feisty

“Eye on Cormyr #1: Coastal Adventuring Parties” describes 16 groups of adventurers that ply their trade on the northern coast of the Dragonmere, in Cormyr.

This article is meant to fire the imaginations of both players and Dungeon Masters. The adventuring party descriptions can be:

- Used as inspiration for players thinking up character names or for creating a name for their adventuring party.

- Used as a way for Dungeon Masters to knit a new group of players together before a first session begins, by providing ideas for the player group's back story.

- Borrowed in their entirety by DMs in need of a party of NPC adventurers.

- Used as inspiration for Dungeon Masters when creating adventure ideas or campaign adventure arcs.

- Anything else you can think of. (Please let me know in the comments below. I love stories of how DMs and players use the content I’ve written.)

The article is divided into three sections: Suzail and Vicinity, Marsember and Vicinity, and “The Coast” and the Dragonmere, and includes artwork and images for Hasper Dundown (of Hasper’s Tenfold Swords) and for Drarra Blackrune, Ruthgul the Ravager and Talessa of Monksblade (three members of the Company of the Bottled Fiend).

Two versions of a detailed map of West-Central Cormyr (hexed and non-hexed) are included for your use and enjoyment.

This is the first of several “Eye” articles that will focus on different aspects of my favorite part of the Forgotten Realms: Cormyr.

Feisty

EoC2 has everything you need to create a noble of Cormyr, whether you’re a player or a Dungeon Master.

For the player:

Eye on Cormyr #2: Nobles of Cormyr expands your character creation options by providing information about Cormyr's many noble families so that you can create your own noble of the Forest Kingdom.

This article is loosely organized around the questions posed to you in the Noble background description found in the Player’s Handbook, which you and your Dungeon Master are asked to consider during the character creation process.

Two additional variants, the Exile and Lost Heir, are included for your consideration.

For the Dungeon Master:

This article contains a list of all 202 Cormyrean noble families, including the 4 exiled families and 13 extinct families. A list of 104 noble names (52 male, 52 female) is also included.

There are seven tables in the article (including Noble Titles Ranked Lowest to Highest, What Is Your Birth Order?, and What Is Your Family's Reputation At Court?), two sample coats of arms (for House Huntsilver and House Wavegallant), three noble residence descriptions, and nine color images of Cormyrean nobles.

Used in conjunction with the Dungeon Master’s Guide, the content in this article allows you to quickly create a noble NPC for the players in your campaign to interact with, or a villainous NPC for your players to oppose.

Two versions of a detailed map of West-Central Cormyr (hexed and non-hexed) are included for your use and enjoyment.